Virata

Quick Facts

About Virata

The honest, aging king of Matsya in whose court the Pandavas spent their thirteenth year disguised as servants. Unknowingly sheltering the greatest warriors alive, he later gave his daughter Uttaraa to Abhimanyu and his armies to the Pandava cause.

In Their Words

My court is open to all who serve with honest hands.

Virata

Traits

• Honest
• Hospitable
• Trusting
• Loyal Ally

Story Appearances

• The Year of MasksUnknowing host of the Pandavas❧ 20 min
• The Year of DisguiseKing served by disguised heroes❧ 21 min

Stories Featuring Virata

81 further tales on this site name Virata, in canonical reading order.

• What the Blind King Was ToldDuryodhana's inventory of the rajasuya, and the quarrel it startedSabha Parva ‧ 21 min
• Thirteen Years of FireThe exile teaches that suffering, accepted with dignity and used as a forge, transforms weakness into strength. The...Vana Parva ‧ 27 min
• The Blind King Counts the OddsA father adds up his enemies and hears whose fault it wasVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Slaying of KichakaThe Midnight Encounter in the Dance HallVirata Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Southern Cattle RaidSusharma Strikes at MatsyaVirata Parva
• The Wedding at UpaplavyaAbhimanyu and UttaraaVirata Parva
• What Dhaumya Told Them About KingsThe rules for living inside another man's palaceVirata Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Goddess on the Road to MatsyaA king with nothing left prays walkingVirata Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Hands Marked With CornsA night in the kitchen, and everything she had not saidVirata Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Pyre and the Uprooted TreeA hundred and five kinsmen and one bound womanVirata Parva ‧ 17 min
• Where a Good King Must Be LivingThe Kuru court tries to find five men by their weatherVirata Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Ten Names of ArjunaA frightened prince demands proof at the burning groundVirata Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Quarrel Before the CattleAshwatthama tells Duryodhana what his kingdom is made ofVirata Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Day Karna RanThe boast in the dice hall, answered at lastVirata Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Grandsire Under the Golden PalmCelestial weapons, and Indra dropping flowersVirata Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Sleep Weapon and the Robes for the DollsSix great warriors disarmed, and a promise kept to some girlsVirata Parva ‧ 17 min
• Five Men on the ThronesThe morning the servants stopped pretendingVirata Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Lineage of GandivaBrihannala names five sets of weapons and the six who held the great bowVirata Parva ‧ 12 min
• Sudeshna of MatsyaThe queen between her brother and her maidVirata Parva
• Matsya, the Kingdom of the FishThe realm that hid five kings and a queenVirata Parva
• Ballava in the KitchensBhima's year in disguiseVirata Parva
• The Twins in the Stables and the PensNakula and Sahadeva's year in disguiseVirata Parva
• Kanka, the King Who Dealt the DiceYudhishthira's year in disguiseVirata Parva
• Trigarta, the Land of Three RiversThe kingdom that swore to die fighting ArjunaVirata Parva
• The Choice at DwarakaTen crore soldiers on one side of the bed, one unarmed man on the otherUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Net and the Mountain HoneyTwo birds who quarrelled in flight, and a cliff nobody came down fromUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Braid She Refused to BindDraupadi answers Bhima's peace with her own hairUdyoga Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Choosing of the GeneralissimoFive brothers name five different men, and Krishna names the sixthUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Cities of TentsTwo capitals raised on Kurukshetra before a single arrowUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Question of DaysEach commander prices the enemy army in morningsUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• Arjuna's Message to the KurusSanjaya recites the message in open court, and names every man who will dieUdyoga Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Sacrifice of BattleDuryodhana makes the coming war his own rite, and his father disowns him for itUdyoga Parva ‧ 23 min
• Kurukshetra Day 1: The Conches SoundThe First Royal DeadBhishma Parva
• Kurukshetra Day 7: Mandala and VajraThe Day of a Hundred DuelsBhishma Parva
• Shveta Against the GrandsireThe Matsya prince who broke Bhishma's bow again and againBhishma Parva ‧ 19 min
• Kurukshetra Day 8: The Rakshasa's HourIravan falls and Ghatotkacha answers for himBhishma Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Herb in the Grandsire's HandA wounded Duryodhana asks Bhishma for reassurance and is given honesty, a pledge, and medicineBhishma Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Grandsire Chooses His HourBhishma remembers Santanu's boon and refuses to die in the wrong seasonBhishma Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Seventh Day After NoonBhima and Duryodhana wound each other twice, Sanjaya tells the blind king whose fault the war is, and Satanika kills DushkarnaBhishma Parva ‧ 23 min
• The Three ColumnsAt midday on the eighth day the Pandava army splits into three attacking bodies, Arjuna's son Iravan is killed, and Bhishma sends twelve warriors to pull Duryodhana out of the fire.Bhishma Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Wall Before BhishmaEvery Kaurava champion is given one Pandava to stop on the tenth dayBhishma Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Last Push on the Tenth DayTenth day: Bhishma asks Yudhishthira to kill him, and the champions of both armies pair off across the field while Dushasana alone stands between him and ArjunaBhishma Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Pairings of the Second DayArjuna goes at the grandsire, and the field breaks into nine duelsBhishma Parva ‧ 11 min
• The Price of ShelterVirata, the old king who gave everythingBhishma Parva
• The Oath of the DoomedSusharma and the Samsaptakas - the Army That Swore to DieDrona Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Guard Drona Had To KillSatyajit of Panchala, and the promise Arjuna left behind himDrona Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Banners and the BowsSanjaya names every standard on the fieldDrona Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Women in the TentSubhadra, Draupadi and Uttaraa on the night Abhimanyu diedDrona Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Order Yudhishthira GaveA king overrules the guard his brother postedDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The King Counts His ArmyEvery soldier paid, examined and willing, and still losingDrona Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Grandson of Shini Crosses the OceanOne chariot sent through the whole Kaurava hostDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Bow Tip and the BoastKarna keeps his word to Kunti and pays for it in insultsDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Oath of a Bereaved FatherThe house of Bahlika ends in a single nightDrona Parva ‧ 18 min
• Three Men and a Drawn SwordKarna boasts, Kripa answers, and Ashwatthama draws on his own sideDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• Kurukshetra Day 15: The Day the Teacher DiedFrom the Dawn Prayers to the Half-Truth at NoonDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Sword That Broke on the ShieldAbhimanyu strips a king of everything, and Jayadratha comes down off his car to stop himDrona Parva ‧ 13 min
• The Guard at the WheelKumara of Panchala checks Drona in front of Yudhishthira's chariot, and pays for itDrona Parva ‧ 14 min
• The King Who Went In AloneDuryodhana charges the whole Pandava army by himself, and Yudhishthira cuts his bowDrona Parva ‧ 14 min
• The Silent CampArjuna comes back at dusk from the samsaptakas and learns that Abhimanyu is deadDrona Parva ‧ 17 min
• The King Falls Out of His SeatDhritarashtra hears that Drona is dead, faints in his hall, and wakes to ask who was supposed to be guarding himDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Blind King Is AnsweredDhritarashtra laments the night after Abhimanyu's death, and his own messenger tells him whose fault it isDrona Parva ‧ 15 min
• Bhima's Harvest on the Fourteenth EveningDrona takes the head of the king of Sivi, and Bhima kills with his fists, his palm and a caught dart until the kings call him RudraDrona Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Guard at Drona's Right WheelYudhishthira orders his whole army against Drona, and never gets past KritavarmaDrona Parva ‧ 15 min
• Duels by TorchlightSix single combats fought by lamplight on the road to Drona's carDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Whole Host Against DronaYudhishthira sends every man he has at the preceptor, and the fifteenth morning breaks into duelsDrona Parva ‧ 23 min
• Portents Before the Fourteenth DayThe night the sky and the rivers answered Arjuna's vow, and the morning ritual of a kingDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Fifteenth MorningDrona alone, and the old kings who tried to stop himDrona Parva
• The Word Brought to HastinapuraSanjaya rides through the night with the news of KarnaKarna Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Brothers Bhima CountedDuryodhana's kin fall in handfuls on the seventeenth dayKarna Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Kings of the East FallSatyaki, Sahadeva and Nakula break the elephant corps of the eastern kingsKarna Parva ‧ 11 min
• Arjuna Cuts His Way to KarnaAn army ordered to tire one man before Karna kills himKarna Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Gem on Ashwatthama's HeadDraupadi sits down to starve until the stone is brought to herSauptika Parva ‧ 15 min
• The Duel of the Brahmashira WeaponsAshwatthama and Arjuna loose the world-ending astra at Vyasa's hermitageSauptika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Count of the DeadKrishna's blunt answer, and a king who could see where they had goneStri Parva ‧ 16 min
• Gandhari Shows Krishna the FieldWith the sight Vyasa gave her, the blindfolded queen walks Krishna through the dead of KurukshetraStri Parva ‧ 21 min
• What Gandhari SawThe blind queen, given sight for one afternoon, walks Kurukshetra naming the dead of both armiesStri Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Crowning of YudhishthiraA king anointed by the man he could not saveShanti Parva ‧ 20 min
• The News Krishna Held BackA grandfather is spared until his daughter refuses itAshvamedhika Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Court Comes to the ForestAn Army Marches Out to Visit Two Old AsceticsAshramavasika Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Night the Dead ReturnedVyasa Calls the Fallen Out of the GangaAshramavasika Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Return of the PortionsWho everybody turned out to have beenSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min

Character Arc

1. 1The HostShelters five strangers unknowingly
2. 2The AllianceJoins his house to the Pandavas

Key Relationships

• Son➝Uttara
• Daughter➝Uttaraa
• Courtier 'Kanka'➝Yudhishthira

Places in Virata's Story

Drawn from the stories Virata appears in.

• Virataविराट
• Kurukshetraकुरुक्षेत्र
• Hastinapurहस्तिनापुर
• Trigartaत्रिगर्त
• Upaplavyaउपप्लव्य
• Forest Hermitageवन आश्रम
• Yamunaयमुना
• Banks of the Gangaगङ्गा तट
• Gangaगङ्गा
• Dwarakaद्वारका
• Pragjyotishaप्राग्ज्योतिष
• Nagalokaनागलोक

Related Characters

Others counted among the Pandavas.

• ❈Yudhishthira
• ⛏︎Bhima
• ◎Arjuna
• ✧Nakula
• ❧Sahadeva
• ✶Draupadi